Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

When Two Paths Meet

“He that leaves the highway for a short cut commonly goes about.” - Ecclesiastes

'Short cut! More like the pathway to hell if you ask me!'

The exasperated exclamation was followed by the ominous sounds of splintering wood accompanied by the protesting rustle of leaves. Turning around, the tall red-haired man's three companions watched in a mixture of amusement, impatience and disapproval as he reduced another branch to a pile of fire starters with a few well aimed blows.

'Was that really necessary, Gojyo?'

The mild reproof from the green-eyed man bearing a small white dragon on his left shoulder managed to convey the impression that his normally even temper was fraying at the edges. However, it seemed that his hot-tempered friend chose to disregard this fact and retorted irritably, 'don't even start, Hakkai. We've been lost in this damn forest for the past three hours with no sign of this legendary short cut that moron back at the inn mentioned.'

Lashing out, Gojyo kicked the already broken branch furiously. 'Three hours in this nightmare with blasted trees attacking me in the face every two feet; that stupid monkey complaining he's hungry every five minutes –'

'Shut up, Gojyo! If you're so good then why don't you use those antennas to find the way out of here!'

Heaving a deep sigh as the youngest member of the group engaged in a verbal exchange of insults with their aggravated companion, Hakkai began quietly, 'Goku, Gojyo, please –'

'Damn it, shut up both of you!'

Two loud cracks filled the air and at once all sounds of argument ceased.

Glaring at the two figures who were now clutching their heads in pain, the fourth member of the group, a golden-haired man in priest's robes, snapped irascibly, 'one more word and I won't be using the fan to shut you up!'

Significantly cowed by the blazing fury in the violet eyes flashing at them, Goku and Gojyo wisely remained mute as the incensed priest spun around and stalked away between the towering forest trees, his white robes quickly disappearing in the dark shadows.

'Holiest of monks, huh? That poor excuse for a priest is nothing but an ill-tempered, frustrated, mean son of a –'

'Gojyo, just leave it be, please,' Hakkai interrupted tiredly. 'You're not the only one who's feeling exasperated with our current situation, and your fighting with Goku is just making things worse.'

For a moment it appeared that Hakkai's words would be the catalyst that finally broke Gojyo's last vestige of control, but then the redhead seemed to deflate and rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously he muttered a quiet apology.

Accepting his friend's expression of regret, Hakkai glanced around before focusing his attention on the place where Sanzo was last seen disappearing.

'It would appear that Goku's already left to join Sanzo,' he observed mildly, his face betraying no hint of surprise. 'I would suggest we do the same before we lose track of them.'

Grimacing slightly, Gojyo remarked drily, 'if that happened all we'd have to do is yell out “meatbuns” and that little monkey would find us in ten seconds flat.'

Hakkai chuckled lightly, and commented without malice, 'yes, he certainly adheres to the principle of a happy stomach is a full stomach.'

Smirking, Gojyo followed as Hakkai led the way in the direction Sanzo and Goku had left. As they made their way through the forest they had only gone a short distance when they heard a familiar voice whine loudly, 'but, Sanzo, I'm hungry. '

Sharing twin looks of amusement, Hakkai and Gojyo continued in the direction the voice had come from whilst Sanzo's voice replied in obvious annoyance, 'we only ate a couple of hours ago, you black hole. How could you possibly be hungry again so soon?'

'I didn't get a chance to finish my lunch, and Gojyo kept stealin' things off my plate,' Goku complained pitifully. Then, his voice adopting the wheedling tone that usually resulted in his guardian capitulating to his request, he asked plaintively, 'can't I have just a little one? Please?'

Pushing through a low hanging branch, Hakkai and Gojyo were just in time to see Sanzo, who was standing next to his beseeching ward at the edge of a wide clearing, release a pent up breath in a long drawn out sigh before reaching into his robes with a muttered, 'fine.' He withdrew his hand again and held it out toward Goku, who eagerly accepted the sweet scented peach with a cheerful word of thanks.

'Whatever,' Sanzo responded, pinching the bridge of his nose wearily, 'just be quiet while you eat it.'

Goku directed a bright smile toward his benefactor, then bit into the delicious fruit and chewed the mouthful contentedly. 

Watching their two companions in silence, Hakkai and Gojyo saw the cold, aloof expression fade slightly from Sanzo's eyes as he gazed at his ward and a small muscle twitched at the corner of his mouth.

'You know, Sanzo, you shouldn't spoil the little brat so much,' Gojyo advised sagely as he stepped forward, his keen eyes not missing the immediate transformation on Sanzo's face as it reverted back to its normal implacable appearance.

'When I want your moronic advice, which will be never, I'll ask for it,' Sanzo retorted icily.

Before another argument erupted between the two most volatile members of the group a piercing, shrill scream rent the air.

'What the –?' Gazing around sharply, Goku's golden eyes widened. 'Did you guys hear that?'

'Of course we heard it, you dumb ape,' Gojyo growled, delivering one hard slap to the back of Goku's head. 'We're not deaf.'

'It sounded like it came from that direction,' Hakkai declared, pointing to the eastern side of the clearing.

As though to confirm his statement another scream rang out, only this time it sounded nearer. Then, before any of the group had time to move, an irate, blonde-haired girl dressed in a yellow shirt with blue jeans encasing her long legs, stormed into the clearing. Emitting another scream of vexation she aimed a deadly foot toward a fallen branch on the ground and kicked it viciously into the air.

'I'll show that two-bit sorcerer how useless I can be,' she cried angrily, apparently oblivious to the audience watching her in bemused silence. 'How dare he say that to me! After everything I've done to help him! First with Azalie, stupid dragon lady, then with that green haired ancient beast thing that tried to turn him into a little wizard doll and all without a “thank you Cleao” or even a nice stay a hot spring resort! And he calls me selfish! I'm the one that has to put up with his mood swings and his childish behaviour when something doesn't go his way. Sometimes I just wish that idiot troll Volcan would actually manage to –'

Breaking off suddenly, the blonde fury unexpectedly sank to the ground. Drawing her knees toward her chest, she wrapped her arms about her legs and dropped her head dejectedly.

'No I don't,' she mumbled quietly. 'He certainly makes me mad but I don't really want him dead. It's just that he's so....LEKI!'

The distressed cry startled the girl's audience. The next instant a blue streak broke into the clearing and raced over to the crouched figure. Whining softly, the blue ball of fur reached out a small paw tentatively and gently rested it against one slim foot.

The girl raised her head slightly and smiled ruefully. Then casting a regretful glance over her shoulder to where she had exited the surrounding forest, she sighed loudly. 'He's so impossible sometimes,' she declared stridently. 'But then he can be nice occasionally, and he does look out for me most of the time and....what is it, Leki?'

The girl peered down at her pet and frowned as he growled warningly, his deep green eyes glowing menacingly at something to her left. Turning her head, she jumped to her feet instantly upon catching sight of her silent witnesses. She backed away several feet, ordering imperiously, 'don't take one more step, you perverts! So you thought you could creep up and take advantage of me did you? Well no one messes with Cleao Everlasting and gets away with it!'

His hands raised in a placating manner, Hakkai attempted to soothe her outraged emotions. 'Excuse us, Miss Everlasting, but we don't mean you any harm. We heard your scream and thought you were in trouble.'

'A likely story,' Cleao yelled furiously, her blue eyes sparkling with rage. 'I bet you've been following me and my friends haven't you! You probably know all about my family and plan to kidnap me and hold me to ransom don't you! Well, let me tell you, it'll take more than four weirdos like you lot to beat me!'

'I highly doubt they'd even want you near them, Cleao,' a cool, indifferent voice stated from the edge of the surrounding trees. 'After all, who'd want to listen to all that screeching?'

'You!'

The vitriolic exclamation fairly dripped with anger as the girl spun around and glared at the newest participant in the altercation.

A young man of medium height, dark hair and brown eyes stood leaning against one of the trees with a nonchalant air and a tiny smirk on his face. His black attire was only relieved by the white edging on his vest, and the red bandanna tied around his head. A silver medallion hung about his neck, the image that of a wide cross surmounted by a dragon.

'The symbol of the Tower of Fang.'

The quiet remark from Sanzo went unnoticed by his companions who were now watching the battle waging between the two strangers in obvious bewildered amusement.

'And I suppose you think you're so wonderful Mr I'm-an-egotistical-arrogant-poor-excuse-for-a-sorceror-who-can't-even-say-sorry-to-my-friends!'

'At least I'm not a loud mouth, ignorant girl whose stupidity is only matched by her brainless babbling and constant whining!'

'I wish I'd never met you Orphen, and I hope the next time you try to do a spell it backfires and blows you into tiny microscopic pieces that you couldn't find with a magnifying glass!'

'Idiot, you can't see microscopic things with a magnifying glass anyway, you need a microscope,' Orphen retorted exasperatedly. 'Honestly, don't you know anything, Cleao?'

'Why you.....!' Clenching her fists tightly, Cleao speared her companion with a fiery glare before screaming deafeningly, 'fine, I've had it! You never stop insulting me and no matter what I do it's never good enough!'

'Master, maybe you should just apologise.'

At the sound of another new voice Sanzo gave an impatient twitch of his robes, and pulling out a packet of cigarettes he selected one and proceeded to light it as the new voice continued, 'after all, Cleao was only trying to help back there and it's not her fault, well not entirely, that half the town got destroyed.'

'Stay out of this, Majic, unless you'd like another demonstration of my blasting spell.'

The young boy that had joined the group in the clearing sighed heavily, and rubbing a hand through his short blonde hair muttered tiredly, 'okay fine, but don't blame me if she sticks Leki on you again.'

'Maybe it's just me, but do either of you see a resemblance between bandanna guy over there and our own bad tempered leader?'

Chuckling softly at Gojyo's deliberately provocative question, Hakkai replied with a small smile, 'there is a slight resemblance, however, I believe that by this stage our dear Sanzo would have demanded our immediate silence accompanied by a few warning shots to demonstrate the consequences that will be meted out should we fail to comply.'

'What do you think, Goku?'

At Gojyo's query, Goku's golden eyes turned from their contemplation of the scene in front of him, and clearly indicating that he hadn't been paying the least bit of attention to his companions' conversation, declared loudly, 'I wish they'd hurry up and finish arguing so we could go, I'm so hungry!'

'You stupid chimp, don't you ever think of anything but your stomach!'

'I can't help it if I'm hungry, and of course I think of other stuff!'

'Oh yeah, like what?'

'I think of...of beating Kougaiji when we see him again, and...and I think of Sanzo, and –'

'– and you're rude, ungrateful! You never even thanked me for helping you with McGregor, all you ever think about is yourself –'

'– admit it, you're just a dumb ape who can't think of anything important –'

'– you blame everyone else for your mistakes, just like that time when you caused an entire town to break into a riot because you couldn't admit that you –'

'– at least I'm not a perverted cockroach that can't even use his antennas to find us a way out of this forest –'

The two sets of arguments were blending into one enormous plethora of noise, the sound of which was increasing in volume steadily, much to the annoyance and irritation of a certain golden-haired priest whose headache was quickly developing into a major migraine.

'– eating a six course meal doesn't count as a useful talent, Cleao –'

'– you're a perfect example that a creature can walk and talk with a brain the size of a walnut, monkey –'

'Damn it, SHUT UP!'

The infuriated yell was punctuated by several gunshots and in an instant all traces of argument vanished from the clearing as everyone turned to stare at Sanzo's glowering form, smoking pistol in his right hand, and whose golden hair seemed to radiate with righteous wrath.

'Seriously, the next person to open their mouth to utter anything remotely sounding like an inane remark will die a quick and painful death.' Violet eyes glaring menacingly at the two groups in front of him, Sanzo finally focused his attention on the two strangers who were gazing at him in almost comic disbelief. 'Even though I couldn't care less about whatever issues you two have between yourselves it's clear enough from what the girl was saying before that she likes you, and obviously if you followed her here after she left your group it stands to reason that she must mean something to you, so just deal with it and quit whining.'

Directing his attention away from the two flushed faces in front of him to his own group, Sanzo eyed the two youngest members balefully before stating grimly, 'you two are seriously asking for it if you don't keep your mouths shut for the next couple of hours. Your idiocy combined is breathtaking.'

Replacing the burning cigarette between his lips and his pistol to its place inside his robes, Sanzo turned away and making his way over to a fallen log seated himself with a pointed sweep of his robes and then proceeded to ignore the people behind him.

'Um, Master, Cleao, who are they?'

At Majic's puzzled question the heavy, tense silence that had fallen at Sanzo's outburst broke, and walking forward slowly Hakkai smiled genially as he introduced their group. ‘The young boy with the brown hair behind me is Son Goku, the tall redheaded one is Sha Gojyo, the little one on my shoulder is Hakuryu, I'm Cho Hakkai, and the one over there is Priest Genjyo Sanzo.'

'Sanzo!'

At the startled exclamation all eyes turned towards the stunned Orphen who was staring fixedly at the seated figure who was now silently smoking his cigarette.

'Do you actually mean he is one of the guardians of one of the five Tenchi Kaigen Scriptures?'

'Two scriptures actually,' Hakkai replied calmly, apparently unfazed by the young sorcerer’s rather incredulous tone.

'Hello, anyone want to tell me what the heck is going on?' Glaring at the men in front of her, Cleao's thin eyebrows rose questioningly as she demanded, 'what on earth is a Tenti–Tenchee scripture thingy, and why the fuss over blondie's name? I mean sure it sounds cute and all, kind of musical too actually, but –'

'They're called the Tenchi Kaigen Scriptures, Cleao,' Orphen informed her impatiently. 'And the name Sanzo is given to anyone chosen as the guardian of one them. There's a whole section in the Tower of Fang's library devoted to the subject, though most of the books were written based on individual theories and hypotheses as no one really knew that much about them except that there were five and that each one governed over different aspects of creation. I never thought that one day I'd actually get to see one in person. Master Childman told me when I was still a student that he'd met a Sanzo years ago, I think he called him Koumyou Sanzo.'

Jerking in surprise, Sanzo's unusual loss of composure went unnoticed as everyone continued to listen to Orphen's story.

'Childman came here to the east before he found Azalie and myself to see whether the rumours were true about the power contained in the scriptures. He finally found a Sanzo priest who was willing to speak to him about some of the mysteries surrounding them, and although the priest couldn't divulge the exact details of the scriptures as apparently only a Sanzo is permitted to know them, he did find out that whilst the Tower of Fang with the amount of power at our command could possibly destroy a large city in one hit, if all five scriptures were brought together and their powers combined the results could be catastrophic on a massive scale.'

There was a moment's silence before Hakkai said mildly, 'I don't mean to be rude, but what exactly is the Tower of Fang? I have never come across that name in any of my books.'

Opening his mouth to reply, Orphen was prevented from answering when an emotionless voice stated, 'it's a college of sorts founded over a millennia ago in the west, and which to this date remains under the direction of a council of master sorcerers who train those with the gift of magical ability.'

Carefully stubbing out his cigarette under his boot, Sanzo turned around and, an inscrutable expression flickering in his eyes, admitted quietly to his astonished listeners, 'Koumyou Sanzo was the Sanzo priest who entrusted the Maten and Seiten Scriptures to me, and I was introduced to your Master Childman when he visited Kinzan Temple.'

Pausing briefly, Sanzo allowed his eyes to rest on each of the strangers before he remarked with studied deliberation, 'I had read that western people often kept unusual pets, however, I wouldn't have thought that they would go so far as to take a child of the wolven into their care.'

At his words both groups turned their gazes to the small blue wolf that was cautiously approaching a relatively indifferent Hakuryu, who had just abandoned his position on Hakkai's shoulder and was settling down in the cool green grass.

'Oh, you can lay that one at Cleao's door,' Orphen informed him caustically, still smarting from that morning's encounter with the wolven cub's green-eyed, explosive glare. 'Any other sane person would've taken one look and left him alone, but not our Cleao. No, she has to bring the damn thing back out of the forest with us and then name it!'

Leaping immediately to the defensive, Cleao shouted angrily, 'just because no animal in its right mind would want to come near you, Orphen, doesn't mean they'll want to avoid the rest of us. Leki loves me, don't you, Leki?' Her voice quietening down to a crooning sound of affection, Cleao smiled as the blue wolf barked happily before returning his attention to the small white dragon beside him.

'Sanzo, I'm hungry!'

The loud, anguished groan drew everyone's attention to Goku's kneeling figure as he clutched at his growling stomach desperately.

'How long are we goin' to stay here talkin'?'

'Damn it, monkey, what did I say before!' In an instant the harsh crack of Sanzo's paperfan connecting with Goku's skull was resounding throughout the clearing. 'Can't you go for ten minutes without complaining?'

Peering up at his guardian with an injured air, Goku began plaintively, 'but, Sanzo –'

'Uh, Sanzo?' Hakkai's placid voice halted any further whining from Goku as he suggested diplomatically, 'given our current location maybe it would be wise to have something to eat now rather than wait and risk being unable to break for a meal later.'

Drawing himself up to his full height, Sanzo huffed slightly in annoyance before finally conceding with a muttered, 'fine, whatever.' Turning his back on the group once again, he proceeded to ignore everyone around him.

Smiling at the three people in front of him, Hakkai asked pleasantly, 'would you like to join us? I'm sure we've got enough food to share.'

'Really!' A beaming, glowing smile from Cleao clearly showed that she was not at all adverse to the idea. 'I'd love to. It'd be nice to have some civilised conversation for a change while I'm eating.' Shooting a dark glance at her two companions her insinuation about their lack of prowess as dining conversationalists was obvious.

'Well, it's not like anything you've got to say is exactly what people would call intelligent, Cleao,' Orphen retorted, his brown eyes flashing dangerously.

'Unless you're someone who counts constant demands for hot springs and room service as intelligent,' Majic muttered.

'Oh, Majic.' Cleao gave the young boy a saccharine sweet smile as she said with no small amount of vindictive satisfaction, 'thank you for offering to cook our meal for us, I don't know what we'd do without you.'

'Come on, Cleao, that's not fair,' Majic protested helplessly. 'I've cooked for both you and Master for the past week, and neither of you has ever helped.'

Waving one hand negligently, Cleao replied airily, 'well, don't blame me, you know Orphen's forbidden me from going anywhere near the cooking pot.'

'But you could at least help prepare the ingredients,' Majic pointed out.

Deciding to ignore this reasonable argument, Cleao instead withdrew a small yellow ball from her backpack and tossing it in her hands called out cheerfully, 'come on, Leki, time to play.'

Hearing his mistress calling his name, Leki looked toward her inquisitively, and upon seeing the bright yellow ball in her hands immediately left Hakuryu's side with a happy bark and raced over to where Cleao stood waiting. Patting her pet fondly on the head Cleao drew back her arm and launched the little ball across the clearing until it disappeared into the forest.

'Go get it, Leki!'

With an obedient wag of his tail, Leki disappeared into the forest in search of the missing toy, only to reappear almost instantly with the yellow ball in his mouth. Walking across to his mistress the blue wolven cub dropped the ball at her feet with deliberate care.

'Good boy, Leki!' Picking up the small animal, Cleao hugged him enthusiastically until he yelped in desperation. Loosening her grip slightly, Cleao was surprised when another hand reached out to pat the wolven's small head. Turning her head, Cleao saw Goku's wide golden eyes staring into Leki's green ones with a curious mixture of fascination and wonder.

'He's beautiful!'

The quiet murmur caught the attention of Goku's companions. One by one they all fixed their eyes on Goku's awestruck countenance.

'He feels safe with you, he knows you won't leave him.'

Narrowing his eyes at his ward's surprising words, Sanzo watched carefully as Goku continued to pet the docile animal in Cleao's arms. A strange and silent mental exchange appeared to be occurring between the two children of the earth. Then,

'But he's frightened that he could hurt you.'

'Hey, what's up with you, monkey?' Gojyo's loud voice and the sensation of his fist connecting with Goku's head had the young teenager jumping in surprise. 'Gettin' all spaced out like that could cause problems you know. People might take your head for vacant space and try to build something on it.'

The connection between them shattered, both Leki and Goku glared at the intruding redhead, their expressions eerily similar.

'What the hell was that for, Gojyo?' Goku shouted angrily as the young wolven growled threateningly. 'I was talkin' to Leki.'

'Actually, creeping everybody out was more like it stupid chimp,' Gojyo said lazily as he stared at the glowering face before him, and smirking slightly as he saw a furious red blush spread across Goku's cheeks.

As yet another verbal battle broke out between the two members of his group Hakkai sighed quietly, and turning around he smiled faintly at Majic who was resignedly unpacking ingredients from one of his packs.

'They tend to get like this quite a bit,' Hakkai admitted good naturedly. 'I find that the most effective way of dealing with them is to let them go for a while and then try to distract their attention.'

Nodding in understanding, Majic grimaced as he indicated his two companions. 'They're like that nearly all the time too. It gets a bit hard to ignore them sometimes. Most of the time I feel more like a babysitter than a sorcerer’s apprentice.'

Laughing softly, Hakkai retrieved his own pack and began withdrawing an assortment of food items as he said with light mockery, 'however, I guess on the positive side just like children if you put food in front of them they tend to forget everything else.'